1. What is RNA-Seq?

RNA-Seq (RNA sequencing) is a high-throughput method to study the transcriptome — all the RNA molecules expressed in a cell, tissue, or organism at a specific time.

It’s widely used to:

• Identify differential gene expression between conditions.
• Detect novel transcripts and splice variants.
• Study non-coding RNAs.
• Investigate disease mechanisms (e.g., cancer, neurodegenerative diseases).

2. Workflow of RNA-Seq Bioinformatics Research

A. Experimental Design

Before sequencing, you decide:

• Conditions: e.g., control vs treatment.
• Replicates: biological & technical.
• Sequencing depth: number of reads.
• Platform: Illumina, PacBio, Nanopore.

B. Wet Lab → Data Generation

• RNA is extracted, purified, converted to cDNA, and sequenced.
• Output is FASTQ files (raw reads).